New firm planning two plants in Anderson County

The Anderson County Council voted 100 percent for offering a $10.2 million federal stimulus bond incentive to a green energy company which will bring about 75 jobs

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Anderson County Council members begin a called meeting with the before voting on an economic development project. The council agreed to transfer $10.2 million in federal stimulus bonds to a green-energy company that plans to come to the county.

ANDERSON - A green-energy company that is a spinoff of Ace Environmental Inc. will make a $30 million investment to build two plants in Anderson County, and to lure it, the county is offering it $10.2 million in federal-stimulus bonds.

The company will recycle materials to generate electricity and is going to put its first South Carolina plants in Anderson County. The exact locations remained undisclosed, though Anderson County Council member Eddie Moore said one of the developments would be in his district, which includes Belton, Starr and Iva in southern Anderson County.

The company is expected to bring 75 jobs when fully operational, though the county's bond resolution approved by the council says the county is expecting 27 to 33 jobs.

The Anderson County Council called a special meeting Friday to transfer to the company federal stimulus bonds that were allocated to the county.

The agreement approved by the county says the bonds will be allocated to Ace Environmental/ SMJ Inc., though interim administrator Rusty Burns said the company will have a different name by the time the plant is built. He said Ace Environmental would be "part of the configuration that includes new investors."

Ace Environmental Inc. already has a base in Pelzer, where it accepts and recycles construction and demolition debris, including wood, cardboard, plastic, sheetrock, siding and concrete.

Attempts to reach a company spokesperson were unsuccessful.

The resolution adopted by the council says the new company will handle the "processing, handling and logistics of industrial solid waste in which materials are recovered" and converted to something else.

The bonds transferred to the company are the remainder of Anderson County's allocation under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bonds were going to be allocated to a different company, but then that company decided not to use them. The county's option to use the bonds expires at the end of the year.

"These are federal dollars, and we are just a pass-through," said Burriss Nelson, Anderson County's economic development director. "There is no impact on our credit and we have no financial responsibility for the debt."

Council Chairman Tommy Dunn said the company will likely make a formal announcement, including a new name, in about a week.

Dunn also said he expected that the county would have two more economic development announcements by the end of this year.

"This green company shows that we are serious about bringing new business to Anderson County," Dunn said. "And this is one that people will come to see because of what they do."

Moore said the plant will recycle, among other things, "organic material like cooking oil."

"I'm real excited because they are going to build in my district," he said. "And this is going to be on the cutting edge."